Grain boundary electrical properties of Y2O3 stabilised zirconia with small additions of Er2O3 and Pr2O3 sintered via silicate liquid phase were studied by the impedance spectroscopy technique. Grain boundary specific conductivity of the praseodymium doped samples was found to be independent of sintering time, while the erbium doped sample showed high anomalous conductivity for the 1.0 h sintered samples. The electrical behaviour is explained considering the grain boundary to be a series association of the glass film and the space charge region. Specific conductivity and Debye length of the space charge region of erbium doped samples were found to be 6.7 x 10(-8) S/cm and 0.25 nm, respectively. (C) 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers.